


Eletania

by todisturbtheuniverse



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 21:29:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1956792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/todisturbtheuniverse/pseuds/todisturbtheuniverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Mako breaks down next to a space monkey colony. Hijinks ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eletania

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elfgirl931](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfgirl931/gifts).



> Prompted by elfgirl931: Kaidan and Femshep. Anything sweet and happy or UST from ME1.

Maybe Shepard’s reputation followed her everywhere, hung over her neck like a warning not to get in her way, but it was hard to take what Kaidan had heard of her past seriously when she was like this.

"Space monkeys," she said, her voice ringing with delight over the comm. "Hey, Alenko, look!  _Space monkeys_.”

"So you’ve said, ma’am," he answered, befuddled by her transformation from _fearsome commander_ to  _child on first zoo trip_. He glanced back at the Mako to try and catch Garrus’s eye—maybe he had some insight—but the turian was elbows-deep in the blown-out innards of their stalled tank and didn’t even look up.

"I think they’re called pyjaks, Shepard," Garrus supplied, then, " _gotcha_ , you little bastard—”

"Space monkeys," she insisted, sitting down on the grass very near a few of them.

"Technically, we’re not in space," Kaidan pointed out.

Shepard ignored him, stretching a hand out toward one of the pyjaks. “Look at you, you marvel of evolution, you,” she said. He could hear the grin in her voice, inconveniently hidden by the plate of her helmet. Sure, he’d seen her smile—a quick quirk of her lips, a peculiar light in her eyes—but  _grinning_? And Shepard? The two didn’t go together. She secreted away her expressions behind a cool, even brow.

Garrus cursed again. They could be here a while. Kaidan decided he might as well sit down, but he hung further back from the pyjaks than Shepard did. One of them was snuffling at her gloved palm with interest.

”What’s the matter, LT?” Shepard teased, glancing back at him. “Afraid of the space monkeys?”

He cleared his throat. “I don’t want to risk it, ma’am.”

He could see the change in her brow when her grin turned into a smirk. “A little risk now and then is good for you,” she said, turning back to the pyjak. It planted its feet on her thighs and leaned up into her touch, letting her scratch behind its ears. It didn’t sound quite like a monkey—a little too eerie—but it was close.

He didn’t argue. He wasn’t sure where their relationship stood, and he didn’t particularly want to give anything away to Garrus, either, who could hear them clear as day over the comm. Not that he thought Garrus would engage in scuttlebutt, or anything. He kept to himself. Knowing that anyone knew about him and Shepard and their  _whatever it was_ , though, that didn’t appeal. He liked that it was this quiet thing between them, slowly growing into something more.

"Inquisitive little guys," Shepard mused, as the pyjak got its forefeet up onto her shoulders and sniffed at her helmet. "What d’you think they— _hey_!”

They were certainly as mischievous as plain old Earth monkeys, because the pyjak snatched the rifle from Shepard’s shoulder and took off with it, chattering. She staggered to her feet.

"Hey, asshole! Bring that back!"

She tore after the pyjak. Garrus only snorted once over the comm, but Kaidan nearly doubled over with laughter. It was something to see the first human spectre, chasing and being chased by space monkeys, one of whom had stolen her coveted sniper rifle.

When she at last collapsed to the grass beside him, panting, her gun safely folded to her shoulder again, he flashed a grin sideways at her. She couldn’t see it, not behind his helmet, but he hoped she heard it. “Maybe we should walk next time, Commander,” he suggested. “You sound a little out of breath.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you calling me  _soft_ , Lieutenant?”

For a moment, he thought he’d pushed too far, but he raised his eyebrows and waited it out.

Her voice lowered; her reappearing smirk slid through it like smoke. “I’ll show you soft,” she said. She made the words sound strangely intimate—sultry, even.

He swallowed, leaning automatically a little closer to that voice, lifting a hand to touch her shoulder—

"Shepard," Garrus said, unruffled as ever. "The Mako’s ready to go."

Kaidan reacted to Garrus’s interruption as if burned; he scrambled to his feet, stumbled, and only just avoided hitting the ground again. His face burned all the way back to the tank, but Shepard just snickered, relishing his embarrassment.

Maybe he liked that about her, a bit—the brief shine of a more playful nature before she hid it again. Even if it  _was_ at his expense.


End file.
